APUSH Ch. 21

Appomattox Courthouse

Site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 after almost a year of brutal fighting throughout Virginia in the "Wilderness Campaign"

Election of 1864

candidates included John C. Fremont, Abraham Lincoln, and George McClellan. It resulted in the reelection of Abraham Lincoln However, several political and military events made Lincoln's re-election inevitable. In the first place, the Democrats had to confront the severe internal strains within their party at the Democratic National Convention. Secondly, the Democratic National Convention influenced Frémont's campaign. McClellan's chances of victory faded after Frémont withdrew from the presidential race.

Shiloh

Bloody Civil War battle on the Tennessee-Mississippi border that resulted in the deaths of more than 23,000 soldiers and ended in a marginal Union victory.

Antietam

Landmark battle in the Civil War that essentially ended in a draw but demonstrated the prowess of the Union army, forestalling foreign intervention and giving Lincoln the "victory" he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation

Winfield Scott

74 years old and suffering numerous health problems, as he could not lead an army into battle, he offered the command of the Federal army to Colonel Robert E. Lee. The administration and public opinion wanted a quick victory, but Scott knew that this was impossible. He drew up a complicated plan to defeat the Confederacy by blockading Southern ports and then sending an army down the Mississippi Valley to outflank the Confederacy. (Anaconda Plan)

Ex Parte Milligan

Civil War Era case in which the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals could not be used to try civilians if civil courts were open

Gettysburg

Civil War battle in Pennsylvania that ended in Union victory, spelling doom for the Confederacy, which never again managed to invade the North

Monitor and Merrimac

Confederate and Union ironclads, respectively, whose successes against wooden ships signaled an end to wooden warships. They fought an historic, though inconsequential battle in 1862

13th Amendment

Constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Former Confederate States were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining reentry into the Union.

Fredericksburg

Decisive victory in Virginia for Confederate Robert E. Lee, who successfully repelled a Union attack on his lines.

Bull Run

First major battle of the Civil War and a victory for the South, it dispelled Northern illusions of swift victory.

Emancipation Proclamation

Declared all slaves in rebelling states to be free but did not affect slavery in non-rebelling Border States. The Proclamation closed the door on possible compromise with the South and encouraged thousands of Southern slaves to flee to Union lines.

Copperheads

Northern Democrats who obstructed the war effort attack Abraham Lincoln, the draft and, after 1863, emancipation.

Greenbacks

Paper currency issued by the Union Treasury during the Civil War. Inadequately supported by gold, Greenbacks fluctuated in value throughout the war, reaching a low 39 cents on the dollar.

Confiscation Acts

The First Confiscation Act of 1861 authorized the confiscation of any Confederate property by Union forces ("property" included slaves). The Second Confiscation Act was passed on July 17, 1862. It stated that any Confederate official, military or civilian, who did not surrender within 60 days of the act's passage would have their slaves freed. This act was only applicable to Confederate areas that had already been occupied by the Union Army. All slaves that took refuge in Union areas were "captives of war" and would be set free.

Peninsula Campaign

Union General George McClellan's failed effort to seize Richmond, the Confederate Capital! Had McClellan taken Richmond and toppled the Confederacy, slavery would have most likely survived in the South for some time.

Vicksburg

Two-and-a-half month siege of a Confederate fort on the Mississippi River in Tennessee. Vicksburg finally fell to Ulysses S. Grant in July of 1863, giving the Union Army control of the Mississippi River and splitting the South in two

Sherman's March

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march through Georgia. An early instance of "total war" purposely targeting infrastructure and civilian property to diminish morale and undercut the Confederate war effort.

Fort Pillow

on the Mississippi River in Henning, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. The battle ended with a massacre of surrendered Federal black troops by soldiers under the command of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Military historian David J. Eicher concluded, "Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history."

John Wilkes Booth

was a famous American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor He was also a Confederate sympathizer, vehement in his denunciation of Lincoln, and strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the United States.

David Farragut

was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War and is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" by U.S. Navy tradition.

George McClellan

was a major general during the American Civil War and the Democratic Party candidate for President in 1864. Although meticulous in his planning and preparations, these characteristics hampered his ability to challenge opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment. He chronically overestimated the strength of enemy units and was reluctant to apply principles of mass, frequently leaving large portions of his army unengaged at decisive points.

Horace Greeley

was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery. Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's Republican administration, he was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate in the 1872 U.S. presidential election. Despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party, he lost in a landslide.

Pickett's Charge

was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and it was arguably an avoidable mistake from which the Southern war effort never fully recovered psychologically. The farthest point reached by the attack has been referred to as the high-water mark of the Confederacy.